Confessions of a Terrorist
by to2llyuntraceable
Summary: For years, Adam and Blake had futures as White Fang leaders. One train ride later, and Blake is an ex-terrorist stranded in a mining town notorious for its Faunus discrimination. Adam, meanwhile, is part of an undercover White Fang team infiltrating Beacon to assassinate Ozpin. Both want Faunus equality. Neither knows when revolution goes too far. Together they'll find answers.


Prologue: The Price of Cowardice

Blake Belladonna desperately grasped at the handle of her sword, her hands slick with blood. None of it was her own.

She stumbled through the dust train, her ebony cat ears twisting wildly, straining to hear footsteps following her through the screams of the guards. Pyramids of metal cases, all marked with the Schnee Dust Company snowflake, lined the walls of the car. Soon, the White Fang would take control of the dust shipments, and Blake would be gone.

Behind her lay carnage, welts in the grey metal of the dust carriage, hazy explosions from muzzles of dust guns shrouded in smoke, the floor cluttered with bodies. Final twisted expressions of horror, the way skin melted away into mangled flesh, it was carved into Blake's grey matter. Sanguine coughs burrowed into her ears. She ran farther and farther away, but they still tortured her, reminding her of all she had wrought.

She had no plans for escape, just one barely coherent thought driving her forward.

It's all my fault, make it stop.

Alone and away from the battlefield, the voices, the images, they mingled and amplified in her head. Consumed by her thoughts, Blake slammed into the metal hatch of the train car and collapsed to the ground, sobbing.

"MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!" she wailed, unable to drown out her guilt.

There was a hiss and a metallic groan, as the doorway on the other side of the car opened. Blake looked back, just catching the white fabric of the SDC combat suit as the muzzle of the dust gun swung forward. Even from 50 feet away she was an easy target lying on the ground, in an indefensible felt a pulse of anxiety run through her, but it was weak. Oddly, it was replaced with numbness.

She heard a spray of dust bullets, buzzing like a hornet's nest, stinging the ground in front of her. None hit her. She scrambled to her feet, swivelling her head to see her would-be killer.

She locked eyes with a guard, his gaze acid. Blood seeped down his forehead, and his face was covered in soot. One arm was bent horribly, and hung limply at his side. The other held both the crumpled body of another guard, and a gun.

Blake should have been dead, would have been if not for the weight dragging the guards arm downwards. His partner's eyes were glassy, listless. His armor was stained red, and though he remained upright he barely seemed conscious.

They inched forward together as if running a perverse three-legged race, the gun shaking violent as the guard struggled to raise it. Tears streamed down his face, but he refused to let the other guard fall knowing he couldn't pick him up again.

He spoke. Blake froze.

"Are you gonna let this man die?" he said, softly, gesturing to his partner. "Or are you going to kill him yourself."

No... no more.

"I'm not sure you understood the first time, so I'll say it again. Are you going to watch this man bleed out in front of you, or are you going to swing that sword of yours and kill him yourself?"

No more killing… but why? Why should it matter now? She'd already done it before.

Suddenly, the guard violently jerked his arm upward firing another round of bullets closer than before. He screamed wordlessly, snot dribbling down his nose. Blake didn't flinch, couldn't will herself to run.

What did it matter if they died? This was war, and she was beyond redemption, so what were two more casualties?

Why can't I move?

"Can you do it, you fucking coward?" he shrieked. "Can you kill me? Can cut me down when I'm right in front of you, or are you gonna wait till I'm asleep like the other guys? Huh? Can you look a man in the eyes and tell him he's going to die? SAY SOMETHING!"

"Let me go," she whispered. "I don't want to hurt you anymore."

"If you don't kill me right now, I will hunt you and every other White Fang down, and skin you alive! You and your family will be fucking rugs! I'll -"

The guard never finished his threat. Instead, he dropped to his knees and desperately clutched at the glowing cherry red sword protruding from his stomach. His partner fell from his shoulders, groaning as he hit the floor. With a sickening schick, Adam Taurus drew back Moonslice, and fired a round into each guard's head. A quick death. A small mercy.

He rushed over to Blake, embracing his protégé, but Blake stood like a statue in his arms, teardrops trickling down her cheeks from wide-open eyes.

They stayed like that for a long time, silent and motionless.

Blake had been dumbstruck when she found out their first target was the medical bay, and stayed silent afterwards. It was cowardly, but it made too much tactical sense, and it she didn't have the authority to do anything anyway. The entry point was away from the volatile cargo and close to the main engine. There was cover, big hulking machines that stood away from the entrance. It had been insidiously easy to take over the car; surprised, injured, and asleep, the guards hadn't stood a chance.

More had burst through the doorway, and the White Fang rushed forward to meet them. The screams had returned, louder; some were ones she recognized. She'd seen Adam tower over a guard, the glowing blade of Moonslice illuminating the terrified face of his opponent. He hadn't seen the second guard emerged from the shadows, seen him take aim at the back of his head. Blake hadn't had a choice.

Gods, she never wanted to fight, never even wanted to make the jump. She'd followed her orders, scouting out a low cliffside long and straight enough for twenty White Fang soldiers to land safely on a moving train. But when the time came, her mentor, Adam, gave her a reassuring smile and a few words of encouragement and dragged her down with him. Blake was a soldier in a Faunus crusade; there was no room for cowardice. His words felt so empty now.

"I can't do this," she said, her voice cracking. "I know we're trying to do the right thing in the end, but killing these guards is wrong."

"Look, I don't like it either, but it's not like this was our first response. We tried for a hundred years to do things peacefully, and what did that get us? Forced relocation to an island too small to accomodate all of us. Small symbolic victories. More peace, as long as we didn't stir up too much trouble asking for equal rights. We didn't choose to fight. The humans made that choice for us." Adam paused, hugging Blake closer. "I thought you knew that."

Blake had known that, but that had been before today, before she had known the reality of war.

"But how we go about things, even fighting, matters. It's not just about the end goal."

"Why does it matter? Why should we care about whether the people oppressing us think its fair how we fight? Regardless of what we do we're terrorists from their perspectives."

"We're killing innocent people, what does that make us?"

Adam drew back from her, incensed.

"They aren't innocent Blake. Every one of them works for a company that basically enslaves our kind, and none of them give a shit. Everybody in Vale sees the no-Faunus signs, but they don't speak up because deep down, they're fine with things the way things are."

"And that's enough justification to end their lives? Just because they aren't showing up to Faunus rallies? A lot of Faunus don't either, and it's in their best interests to go."

"Why are you trying to defend them? They hate us. Years of nothing changing has proven that. What, are you feeling sorry for them now that we're fighting back?"

Blake's eyes flamed, and stepped close enough to see Adam's behind the slits of his Grimm mask. "I'm not trying to defend them, I'm trying to defend us. I'm trying to defend us for this whole operation, for the blood on my hands. It doesn't matter if the guards hate us and it doesn't matter if they have guns, they aren't soldiers in a war. They're just humans."

"Humans don't get to decide when and how we fight a war. Right here on this train there are 20 Faunus soldiers willing to lay down their lives so their children can live in a better world."

"Then why are you here instead of back in the medical car with them?"

"Because- because I..." Adam trailed off, and they sat in that poignant silence, the soft rumble of the train filling the canyon between them. He spoke again, softly, "Because you're a soldier too. I'm not leaving my soldiers behind."

Blake walked forward and embraced Adam again, kissing his cheek. And then she slowly removed her Grimm mask and let it clatter to the floor.

"I can't be that soldier for you, Adam. But I'll never stop fighting."

Adam stared at the fallen mask, and then at Blake's uncovered face. She hoped he found only resolve.

"I know," he said, simply, . It wasn't a statement of approval, but it was one of acceptance. And it was a goodbye.

By virtue of taking this mission, she had devoted her life to the White Fang. Now she was an enemy. An enemy with detailed knowledge of the military chain of command. An enemy who couldn't be allowed to live. Adam was Blake's mentor and her closest friend, but above all else he was a White Fang soldier.

Blake smiled at him one last time as she each drew her sword again.


End file.
